Improvement in feed-wheels as substitutes for ratchets and pawls



UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

O. C. PHELPS, OF NEW YORK, N. Y.

IMPROVEMENT IN FEED-WHEELS AS SUBSTITUTES FOR RATCHETS AND PAWLS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 47,126, dated April 4, 1865.

To all whom t may concern:

Be it known that I, O. C. PHELPS, of the city, county, and State ofNew York, have iuvented certain new and useful Improvements in Feed-Wheels as a Substitute for Ratchets and Pawls or other similar Uontrivances; and I do hereby declare and ascertain the same, referring to the accompanying drawings in illustration thereof, in which- Figure l is a plan of my device. section thereof.

On the 2d day of August, 1864, I obtained Letters Patent of the United States entitled Improvement in Feed-Wheels of Sewing- Machines; but which was of course applicable toother machinery where such feed was required, and where I contemplated its use, as well as in sewing-machines. l have found that in employing this device in certain kinds of machinery it is necessary to throw ofl" the feed at times, and to reverse it, so as to work the feed in opposite directions. I have therefore improved said original feed by the introduction of a movement, automatic or otherwise, by which the feed can be readily reversed or stopped.

The construction is as follows:

A is a feedwheelthatcan be connected with any description of machinery where a device for a like purpose is needed, on the face ot' which there is a projecting iiange, a, with its outer and inner curved surface smooth. Onto this flange is fitted a clutch, I), having a notch or recess in it that loosely ts said tiange, as clearly seen in Fig. 2. To the inner end ofthe radial shank of this clutch one end of a connecting-bar, c, is jointed, which bar is jointed at its opposite end to an arm,.d, projecting from a lever, d, whose fulcrum is the axis of Fig. 2 is a the feed-wheel, on which it freely turns. Ata point on this lever d, on a radial line through the inner end ofthe shank of the clntcll b, there is a shifting apparatus, e, pivoted. This shifter consists of a center piece, from which an arm projects, and springs e', that embrace the clutch b and bear its outer end in either direction, as required. This shifter has three positions-one which bears the clutch to the right, one that bears the clutch to the left, and a third between the two others, that holds it straight. so that it will not grip the flange a,

but freely slide over it. lt is held in each position by a spring-catch oi' any description, the one shown in the drawings being a spring-pin in the lever d, which is thrown up into the recess in the shifter e.

It is obvious that the form and position ot' many ofthe parts may be somewhat varied in their construction to adapt them to themachinery or purpose they are intended for; but these need no specific description, as any coinpetent mecha-nician can adapt them without invention.

The apparatus is putin motion by vibrating the arm dot' the lever by means ot' any convenient moving part of the machine to which it is applied.

Having thus fully described myimprovement ou my invention ot' a feed-wheel, what I claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

The combination of the shifting apparatus above described with said wheel and clutch, as and for the purposes herein set forth.

O. C. PHELPS. Witnesses J. J. GREENOUGH,

ANTI-10N WELLEs. 

